Parents who don't vaccinate their children against measles are putting their communities, their loved ones, and even their own kids at risk. Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The United States was able to eliminate measles, the CDC states on its website, "because it has a highly effective measles vaccine, a strong vaccination program that achieves high vaccine coverage in children, and a strong public health system for detecting and responding to measles cases and outbreaks."
Not anymore.
Thanks to a small but growing number of people who wrongly believe that the vaccine's side effects can lead to autism or other diseases, and celebrities like former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy grabbing wide media attention for her anti-vaccine beliefs, the number of unvaccinated children is increasing. In December, an outbreak of measles occurred at Disneyland and now cases have spread, resulting in more than 130 measles cases in 14 states. California has the majority of cases; locally public health departments in the Bay Area have reported cases in Alameda, Marin, San Mateo, and Solano counties.
And yet anti-vaxxer parents continue to dig in their heels, ignoring scientific evidence while continuing to believe discredited research from 1998, when a British doctor said he had found a relationship between the MMR vaccine – measles, mumps, and rubella – and the onset of autism.
"Typically, the MMR shot is given to infants at about 12 months and again at age 5 or 6," the New York Times reported in a story this week that looks at why the anti-vaccination movement has not ended. "This doctor, Andrew Wakefield, wrote that his study of 12 children showed that the three vaccines taken together could alter immune systems, causing intestinal woes that then reach, and damage, the brain. In fairly short order, his findings were widely rejected as – not to put too fine a point on it – bunk. Dozens of epidemiological studies found no merit to his work, which was based on a tiny sample. The British Medical Journal went so far as to call his research 'fraudulent.' The British journal Lancet , which originally published Wakefield's paper, retracted it. The British medical authorities stripped him of his license."
Despite the total refutation of the research conclusion, the false vaccine-autism link continues to be accepted by some, and the problem is that their unfounded beliefs are potentially endangering everyone else.
A child who is not vaccinated and becomes infected with measles can infect others who have not been vaccinated, such as babies who are too young or those with compromised immune systems.
To be effective, vaccines rely on a concept called herd immunity; basically, if nearly everyone (95 percent, according to the CDC) is vaccinated in a community, then the risk of contracting the disease is low. These days that number has fallen, mainly due to parents still believing the junk science, so the disease is making a comeback.
Measles is not Ebola, it's much more contagious and can be deadly. But now suddenly vaccination has become a heated political issue, with several presumed Republican presidential candidates stoking the anti-vaxxer movement for political profit. Just this week New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who last year ordered a nurse quarantined because she might have Ebola (she did not), said that parents should have "choice" when it comes to vaccinations (he later tried to backpedal). Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who is a doctor and should know better, said he had been told that vaccines can lead to "mental disorders" (he got vaccinated Tuesday). There is no credible evidence of this happening.
This week, KQED reported that California state Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) said he will introduce a bill that would require schools to notify parents of their immunization rates. Pan, who is a physician, also said he wants to look at tightening the personal belief exemption. Both are good steps. It's just too bad that it's come down to more legislation, when common sense and sound science should be enough.
In the meantime, parents should vaccinate their kids. There's no reason not to.